June is over and the heat of July is finally here!

July at Midewin started with placing transect flags at various locations on the prairie that had their fair share of hazards! I was in primarily mesic habitats with the botany technician, Anna, where we faced thickets of sandbar willows (Salix interior), horsetails (Equisetum sp.), and of course the disgusting Phragmites (Phragmites australis).

Following setup, we began the transects and gathered data for the Floristic Quality Index (FQI). During data collection, it reminded me of a live auction where people would shout their bets at a person, but instead it was the latin/common names of the plants being shouted at the tablet holder!

Within the middle of transect season, a few of us CLMs assisted the previous CLM interns, Harsha and Veronica, in brush cutting the awful Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellatum). As a whole, we managed to cut down a great amount of the shrubs and also break a sweat which attracted the sweat bees!

Aside from transects and brush cutting, the latter half of July was spent collecting and scouting for sedges, rushes, and wetland species. While collecting on the prairie, we found ourselves to be dwarfed in comparison to the pillaring beasts that are in the genus Silphium. The largest plants tended to be seven feet tall (or taller) and had golden inflorescences that would sometimes had a critter in the bloom! All four species of rosinweeds were also relatively abundant in most habitats, but only 3 of the 4 species tended to grow with each other. How rude of the plants to not include the fourth species!

The Silphium, in my opinion, are like the trees of the prairie, as they pillar over most prairie vegetation aside from some Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi). Additionally, they also act as pillars within the prairie as they are workhorse species within restorations. Truly, they act like pillars with other species to support a small part of the prairie’s foundation.

I hope to one day view these pillaring plants, with their immense leaves, tickle the bellies of Bison within the tallgrass prairie once again just as Aldo Leopold wished. With that, I hope other people can appreciate the absolute behemoths that are within the genus Silphium as much as I do!

Hopefully August will bring more fun on the prairie when the season changes and more plants bloom! See y’all soon!